Has Extensive Trailering Reconditioned My HV Battery

I say screw all those numbers on the MFD I get all that going on how much gas are you putting in when you fill the vehicle up like is it on fumes and how many miles have you gone and how many gallons have you put in at the end of the day or whatever it is I'm putting in 10.2 gallons and going 530 540 mi That's about all the car does ever it doesn't matter if the air conditioning's on or any of that other stuff this is a general rule of thumb with my '09 now my 13 is a completely different story.

 

I have found that the mpg estimator can read high (or low) for a while depending on what the temperatures and use are when it's reset. Reset on a cold winter morning? - crazy low. Reset on a warm spring day (after the ICE is hot but no A/C use)? Get a high reading.

Short form is it appears that the longer you let the mpg reading go, the less influence any short term fluctuations have.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I trailer all the time with the plastic floe 8 56 5x8 trailer. And I mean all the time it's in pictures all over the web this trailer on my Prius all the time even when it's empty I just might have it on there just because I might pick up something I can drag this trailer around all day with almost miniscule amount of stuff on it and I don't even know it's on the car it is a big help in my work. I did go through the Virginia mountains to pick up a zero turn Cub cadet around 500 lb lawn mower on this 300 lb trailer 330 lb I think. And I definitely knew it was behind me going up and down the mountains empty and full or with and without the mower. So I'm not one to be wanting to tow and move around the mountains I'm in Central North Carolina where it's predominantly flat running through the mountains with the trailer loaded or unloaded was not a lot of fun now the same trailer connected to my V6 Tacoma or sienna van I can run 80 miles an hour in the mountains with it but the Prius not so much. But with the Prius I'm getting close to 50 miles to the gallon no matter the speed and ice cold air conditioning so there's generally no hurry

 

I submit that your computer settings for hauling the trailer were still at play when you unhitched and drove without it. To confirm, try unplugging your 12v for a few minutes, which will clear all the current settings and see if your car returns to previous MPG.

Of course keep in mind that once you're up into the 50mpg range sometimes the tiniest variable like air temp or gas quality or type of road can create significant changes in total MPG, so don't spend too much time on this.